yoga

Yoga

Yoga is...

• now.
• moving and breathing
• Swedish calisthenics
• a religion
• a business and a commodity
• a way of life
• a practice
• a disruption of the patterns of daily life
• ... to still the patterning of consciousness [yoga-sutra 1:2]
• the combination of practice (sustained effort) and nonreaction (nonattachment). [yoga-sutra 1:12] Or, effort and ease.

8 Limbs of Yoga

There are eight components of yoga: external discipline, internal discipline, posture, breath regulation, concentration, meditative absorption, and integration. yoga-sutra 2:29

Called Astanga Yoga

1. Yama - morals, restraints, external disciplines. Clarify one’s relationship to the world of people and objects.
   • Ahimsa - not harming
   • Satya - truthfulness
   • Asteya - not stealing
   • Brachmacharya - celibacy. or, impeccable behavior, including sexual.
   • Aparigraha - not being acquisitive
2. Niyama - ethics, obervances, internal disciplines. Personal principles governing the process of realization.
   • Sauca - bodily purification
   • Santosa - contentment
   • Tapas - intense discipline
   • Svadhyaya - self-study
   • Ishvarapranidhana - dedication to the ideal of yoga
3. Asana - posture. "The postures of meditation should embody steadiness and ease" yoga-sutra 2:46. cultivating profound physical steadiness and effortlessness in meditation.
4. Pranayama - breathing, breath energy regulation, sustained observation and relaxation of all aspects of breathing, bringing about both a natural refinement of the respiratory process and bodymind tranquillity
5. Pratyahara - withdrawal of the senses, naturally occurring withdrawal from external sense objects as attention interiorizes
6. Dharana - concentration, locking attention on a single object/field
7. Dhyana - meditation (absorption), all mental formations relating to an object/field
8. Samadhi - enlightenment (integration), sustained coalescence of subject, object, and perceiving itself

Three paths to enlightenment

1. Karma Marga - path of work and duty
2. Bhakti Marga - path of devotion and love
3. Jnana Marga - path of study and knowledge

Seven Chakras

1. Root
2. Sacral
3. Solar
4. Heart
5. Throat
6. 3rd Eye
7. Crown

TODO

Other concepts to flesh out: bandhas, kosha, kriya

Texts

• Bhagavad Gita
• Yoga Sutras
• Light on Yoga

Selected quotes

• "You have the right to work, but never to the fruit of work." - Bhagavad Gita 2:47

• We do not use the body to get into a pose, we use the pose to get into the body. - _The Complete Guide to Yin Yoga, Chapter 2

Different styles of yoga

There's lots of different kinds of yoga out there.

Styles I've Tried

• Forrest - invented by anna forrest. tough and healing. lots of binds, core strength and release, neck release.

• Hot - usually a set sequence. longer holds.

• Kundalini - Supposed to "awaken kundalini" energy and guide it up your chakras. Lots of chanting and kriya, which can be like elbowing yourself in the ribs over and over.

• Nidra - Meditative "yoga of sleep". Usually starts with gentle movements, but then continues prone, guided by the teacher's voice.

• Restorative - Sleepytime feel good yoga. Really long poses. Supported and easy. Passive relaxation.

• Vinyasa - flowy. moving and breathing/breath to movement. What most people think of when they think of yoga.

• Yin - Long, supported holds designed break up fascia. Yoga for joints, not muscles. 3 key pinciples:

  1. Come into the pose to an appropriate depth. (Playing with ones edge.)
  2. Resolve to remain still.
  3. Hold the pose for time.

Styles to try

• Bikrim - Hot. Set sequence of 26 poses. 90 minutes. Invented by Bikram Choudhury, who is a bit of a bad hombre.
• Iyengar - Invented by BKS Iyengar. Slower pace, longer holds, lots of props to reach deeper, safer expressions of poses.
• Hatha
• Astanga
• Anusara -
• Babtiste - heated power yoga
• Bowspring -